In what is a first for e-commerce, Daraz scored Pakistan's first 3 billion rupee sale in revenue, securing 4 times more orders compared to last year's sale, powered by 3 times more traffic on the ecommerce portal. What makes Big Friday, big? While this might sound an obvious question, it is a no less instructive one to consider when reviewing the year's single biggest sale phenomenon.
Daraz's annual sale is best seen as a tent pitched to attract not just millions of digital-savvy prospects, but a consortium of top brands and thousands of sellers across the country. Introduced by Daraz in 2015, the sale has now become a nationwide phenomenon with malls being jam-packed during this period as all retailers go on sale. By 1:45 AM on Friday, Daraz had already gone past its PKR 1 Billion sales milestone from last year.
Bjarke Mikkelsen, CEO Daraz commented, "Whenever we mount a sale of this magnitude, it is a huge effort to make the ecosystem of customers, sellers and partners to come together in a coordinated effort. This year the result was beyond all expectations and we are thrilled to have broken new ground in Pakistan e-commerce."
Digital rush-hour as never seen before Millions of shoppers thronged the online marketplace during Big Friday - the event clocked in 17 million sessions during the week-long sale compared to 6 million sessions from the year before. 76% of this traffic was mobile, compared to 55% in 2016, attesting to the increasingly mobile-first nature of Pakistani e-commerce. Over 60% of transactions were made using the Daraz app, vindicating the continuous investments the company has made in improving their app experience. 55% of transaction volume came through prepayment methods, with customers utilizing Daraz's broad portfolio of payment offerings.